Press

The deal, according to brand specialist Mark Borkowski could be worth millions. “I would think it would be on a par with what the London Underground has done. It could be worth millions,” Borkowski told the Standard. “Resources are stretched so let’s hope it is a multi-million pound success for London.”

Recent dramas including Bodyguard has helped make the “sexiness” of the brand Mark Borkowski said.

Branding experts said the Met’s licensing deal could potentially be worth millions of pounds, but predicted Britons were unlikely to snap up the London force’s wares.

“I think it has more of a hope to succeed as a foreign export,” public relations guru Mark Borkowski told the Evening Standard. “It’s that image you have of Beefeaters, Bobbies, telephone boxes and the Routemaster buses.”

He added: “I don’t think you’ll see floods of Londoners buying their cuddly Met plod toy with their uniforms.

“If you think about NYPD or LAPD – I don’t think people in New York or Los Angeles have the same sort of romance about that police force.”

Publicist and strategist Mark Borkowski said Rahul Mandal’s victory was of the “zeitgeist”.

With Brexit and Trump, and the news full of terrible stories, there is something about this winner that epitomises what people are craving – niceness, people to be kind, genuine and authentic,” he said.

“There’s no narcissism. His win just falls into that zeitgeist.

“That cliche used in reality shows, ‘you don’t know how good you really are’, that Simon Cowell line, Rahul is that person.

He said Rahul “will be hoovered up by many brands” and could go into anything from restaurants to food lines.

“M&S, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s would want him on board because he’s a great ambassador for kindness and care,” Mr Borkowski said

“He’s a million-pound brand without a shadow of a doubt. If he plays his cards right he could make multi millions over years. Brands don’t want some difficult prima donna.”

He said Rahul should get on Instagram but warned: “I think he’s too nice for Twitter. I think the trolls would chew him up. ”

As well as India “he has potential for America … he’s global”, Borkowksi said.

He added: “The problem is, with fame brings massive pressure and it will be whether or not he has the temperament and ambition to be as big as he might be. ”

Borkowski said of complaints about Rahul’s win: “That is what you’d expect. It won’t damage him.”

Great British Bake Off winner Rahul could make millions, says expert Publicist and strategist Mark Borkowski said Rahul Mandal’s victory was of the “zeitgeist”. “With Brexit and Trump, and the news full of terrible stories, there is something about this winner that epitomises what people are craving – niceness, people to be kind, genuine and authentic,” he said.

“There’s no narcissism. His win just falls into that zeitgeist. “That cliche used in reality shows, ‘you don’t know how good you really are’, that Simon Cowell line, Rahul is that person.
The trolls would chew him up.

He said Rahul “will be hoovered up by many brands” and could go into anything from restaurants to food lines.

“M&S, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s would want him on board because he’s a great ambassador for kindness and care,” Mr Borkowski said.

“He’s a million-pound brand without a shadow of a doubt. If he plays his cards right he could make multi millions over years. Brands don’t want some difficult prima donna.”He said Rahul should get on Instagram but warned: “I think he’s too nice for Twitter. I think the trolls would chew him up. ”

As well as India “he has potential for America … he’s global”, Borkowksi said.

He added: “The problem is, with fame brings massive pressure and it will be whether or not he has the temperament and ambition to be as big as he might be. ”

Borkowski said of complaints about Rahul’s win: “That is what you’d expect. It won’t damage him.”

Great British Bake Off winner Rahul could make several million pounds “if he plays his cards right”, an industry expert has predicted.

“With Brexit and Trump, and the news full of terrible stories, there is something about this winner that epitomises what people are craving – niceness, people to be kind, genuine and authentic,” he said.

“There’s no narcissism. His win just falls into that zeitgeist.

“That cliche used in reality shows, ‘you don’t know how good you really are’, that Simon Cowell line, Rahul is that person.

He said Rahul “will be hoovered up by many brands” and could go into anything from restaurants to food lines.

“M&S, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s would want him on board because he’s a great ambassador for kindness and care,” Mr Borkowski said.

“He’s a million-pound brand without a shadow of a doubt. If he plays his cards right he could make multi millions over years. Brands don’t want some difficult prima donna.”

He said Rahul should get on Instagram but warned: “I think he’s too nice for Twitter. I think the trolls would chew him up. ”

As well as India “he has potential for America … he’s global”, Borkowksi said.

He added: “The problem is, with fame brings massive pressure and it will be whether or not he has the temperament and ambition to be as big as he might be. ”

Borkowski said of complaints about Rahul’s win: “That is what you’d expect. It won’t damage him.”

It doesn’t have quite the same ring as the NYPD but Scotland Yard is ready to try to follow the New York Police Department by using its name to sell branded clothes and trinkets.

“I think it has more of a hope to succeed as a foreign export.
“It’s that image you have for Beefeaters, Bobbies, telephone boxes and the Routemaster buses. It’s the Downton Abbey effect, the projection of the Olympics. I don’t think you’ll see floods of Londoners buying their cuddly Met plod toy with their uniforms.

PR guru Mark Borkowski, who has worked with everyone from Michael Jackson to American Express, said the deal could be worth millions.

He told the Standard: “I think it has more of a hope to succeed as a foreign export.

“It’s that image you have for Beefeaters, Bobbies, telephone boxes and the Routemaster buses. It’s the Downton Abbey effect, the projection of the Olympics. I don’t think you’ll see floods of Londoners buying their cuddly Met plod toy with their uniforms.

“If you think about NYPD or LAPD – I don’t think people in New York or Los Angeles have the same sort of romance about that police force.

“I would think it would be on a par with what the London Underground has done. It could be worth millions. Resources are stretched so let’s hope it is a multi-million pound success for London.”
He said Jed Mercurio, the television writer behind Line of Duty and Bodyguard had helped to stir up the “sexiness” of the brand.

It started with a kiss… Strictly contestant star Seann Walsh and dance partner Katya Jones hit the headlines after being caught kissing in public.

What does this mean for such a big TV show?

PR guru Mark Borkowski told the BBC that it’s not necessarily bad news for the show.

“If you’re cynical about it, it’s good news for the show. It’s provoked a huge debate and provided the papers with a huge story to keep interest in Strictly going.

“The BBC won’t make a fast decision, there’s a vacuum at the moment [so there’s] lots of room for media speculation [to fill the gap].

“All publicity is good publicity – apart from the obituary notice!”

However, the prognosis for Walsh and Jones isn’t so rosy, he says.

“It’s an absolute disaster for Seann, I would be very surprised, since the intervention of his girlfriend, if they can keep him on [the show]. I suspect they [Strictly] might leave the decision to the last possible moment.

“I don’t see how they can carry on with the routines. Seann was improving, he had a glint in his eye and Shirley liked him. For those not very well-known celebs [like Seann], it’s usually a huge lift for their career, it’s like being promoted into another division. But he’s got himself relegated before the season’s halfway through.

For some of these celebrities, being the first to be kicked off Strictly Come Dancing seriously harmed their careers

PR expert Mark Borkowski reckons it is all down to the shame of being first out on TV’s biggest show — a subject none of the agents of First Week Losers I approached wanted their clients to discuss.

Mark said: “Celebrities who get voted out at the first stage had better start writing obituary notes for their career. In Strictly terms, they shouldn’t be playing the last dance music, they should be playing the funeral waltz for their career.

EXCLUSIVE: After ‘Punchgate’ there’s been a lot of talk about what’s next for Roxanne Pallett’s career – PR expert Mark Borkowski tells the Mirror what she should do

Celebrity crisis PR expert Mark Borkowski – who has worked with big names such as Michael Jackson, Cliff Richards and Noel Edmonds – tells the Mirror that although she is “in crisis and at a crossroads”, she actually has an “opportunity at this point” – but she needs to recognise her shortcomings and reflect on her actions.

“The first stage in crisis PR is self help,” the chairman of Borkowski Communications said, adding that this needs to be the point at which Roxanne examines her behaviour.

“Her brand is in tatters now but she has the opportunity to rise above this. She has to think about what her brand is – and if she behaves in a certain way what impact it has on that.”

“Nothing is over until it is over, but you have to seek help if you have issues that need addressing”.

Lying low could help Roxanne bring things back, as Borkowski said that remaining in the limelight isn’t working for Roxanne, as “she is clearly struggling to use fame to bring herself back”.

He pointed to other celebrities who have taken time out from the spotlight amid controversy recently: “Take a look at how much time Ant McPartlin is taking to recover… I’m very impressed by that”.

Borkowski said that for a successful celebrity brand you need to “know yourself and know what your brand stands for”.

“When she has found out who she is, she should bring that back and look at how she can actually help people.”

He added: “Whether you’re Holly Willoughby or Victoria Beckham, all of these careers go through ups and downs.”

HOLLYWORLD
From six-figure ad deals to lucrative telly work — how TV darling and new I’m A Celebrity host Holly Willoughby carved out an £11m empire
The beloved TV presenter has added another jewel to her glittering crown by stepping in to co-host of I’m A Celebrity alongside Declan Donnelly

While it looks like Holly is everywhere, PR expert Mark Borkowski says she is selective about who she works with.
He said: “Sponsors want to be alongside her so she can be choosy – she very much sticks in her niche. She’s not sponsoring things that the average person can’t quite afford.”
PR expert Mark said: “She’s somebody who could be your friend. She’s got great chemistry, works hard and delivers. That’s why she’s getting all these big shows.”

PR expert Mark Borkowski explained: “She’s leveraging everything she does well and bringing it all together.
“Fame will always desert you sooner or later if you don’t work on it, but Holly always works on it.”

Rift between Prince Harry’s wife and her father may not have significant impact on perception of Royals

“I have been watching with a certain amount of interest and it does seem like a bad episode … of Coronation Street, a soap opera,” said British public relations expert Mark Borkowski, who has worked with everyone from Michael Jackson to Mikhail Gorbachev.

Where’s the family allegiance?

PR expert Borkowski would have “got well ahead of this and dealt with it right at … the outset” during the wedding preparations and brought Markle into the royal camp.

“Clearly they’re in a very difficult situation,” Borkowski said. “They’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t. He’s proving to be a man who is being paid regularly by some of these … [media] agencies in America. They’re feeding him and he is performing like some sort of dancing pony by keeping this narrative going.”

“I think it’s crept up on them,” said Borkowski. “Everybody makes mistakes and I think it was a mistake that was made, and it’s a very difficult one to recover from. Maybe they tried.”

From Borkowski’s perspective, the palace needs to keep Meghan’s father at “arm’s length because anything they’re likely to try and do he’s going to use for his own income.”

Borkowski expects there have been numerous attempts through intermediaries to sort this out, “but really it’s between a daughter and her father.”

And in that, maybe it’s not so far removed from what families outside the palace walls face — and this could engender some empathy for Meghan.

“I think most families across the world will have a narrative about an estranged relative,” said Borkowski. “I think there’s a more realistic feeling now towards the Royal Family, so you know these things happen to them, they’re out in the open.”

For all the tabloid attention the Markle debacle has foisted on the Royal Family, there isn’t a sense it is having a significant negative impact on the public perception of Meghan and Harry and the House of Windsor right now.

“It seems like a bad narrative going on, but I think people want to see Harry and Meghan succeed in terms of a relationship,” Borkowski said.

The stars were on board, the contracts had been signed, and the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie was scheduled to begin shooting in early 2019.

But Disney’s recent firing of director James Gunn has left the franchise somewhat up in the air.

PR expert Mark Borkowski says there can often be ways for stars to return to their careers after a scandal – provided the situation is handled well.

“You disappear for a while, you look for help, you’re contrite, and as long as the conduct doesn’t return, you have an opportunity to re-gather your brand and look again,” he explains. “But I think what we’re beginning to see are these peaks and outrages don’t sustain. Because the audience move on very quickly to the next thing.

“If that person truly reflects odious views, there is no hope for them. But some people make mistakes in their youth when they’re not really on top of what they’re doing. They don’t have the advice, they’re not famous, and these things come back to haunt them.”

He adds: “I do think there is generally a massive overreaction, and bad publicity doesn’t seem to sustain… everybody has a way back.”

Their love may last forever but Dani Dyer and Jack Fincham’s eight weeks in the Love Island bubble came to an abrupt end yesterday as they flew back to the UK on a delayed Ryanair flight.

Publicist Mark Borkowski said companies might pay them up to £100,000 per social media post to endorse products. ‘Make no mistake, Dani and Jack will be able to monetise their fame — and many of the others will,’ he said.

He added the islanders need to stay in the limelight to rake it in long term. ‘This is the beginning of their journey,’ he said. ‘Can they maintain that fame?’

“Make no mistake, Dani and Jack will be able to monetise their fame. And many of the others will, ” publicist and strategist Mark Borkowski told the Press Association.

“But many of these reports saying it is better than an Oxbridge education (in terms of earnings) are overstated. There is a huge peak and a massive dip.”

The reach of a contestant’s profile on social media, particularly on Instagram, will be key to their success.

Whether it is endorsing a “holiday destination, a fitness product, a line of lingerie, you can market that extremely well if you’ve got a structure around you,” Mr Borkowski said.

“It’s about more than having a deal with a photo agency and snapping shots in Thailand. You’ve got to get brands behind you. It takes time.”
He said payments for plugs on social media could range from £20,000 to £100,000.

But he added: “You have to get multiple, multiple, multiple millions of followers who are engaged with you… Beyonce, Kendall Jenner, they have machines behind them.”
Some of the contestants will soon “be forgotten about” and so to stay in the public eye they will need “a TV format because we’ve got a very short span of attention,” he said.

But Mr Borkowski said that many celebrities had discovered that “new boyfriends” lead to “new headlines”.

So “if they’re going to be maintaining that relationship in the public eye, if there’s a genuine relationship, they will struggle”, he said of Jack and Dani.

“Just because the public love you and they’ve seen you fall in love,” it doesn’t necessarily mean that they can follow in the footsteps of names like Scarlett Moffatt and Rylan Clark-Neal with careers in TV presenting, Mr Borkowski said.

“You can’t do anything in the public eye unless you are good at it.”.

He added: “The reality of coming out of the bubble will be a big crash landing… We forget the causalities of this fame… It’s a very, very tough and cruel world and I’ve seen so much. I wish them well.”

It was to be the stunt of the summer. Two unlikely partners. One representing dignity and justice. The other a flagrant troublemaker. Yet – against the odds – they come together. Some call it irresponsible. Others claim the pursuit of a better world.

Yet sadly for Paddy Power, its partnership with the NGO Greenpeace was soon eclipsed by the dual grins of new besties Donald and Kim claiming this summer’s most outrageous pairing. Where the betting brand had hoped to provoke outrage with the image of polar bears branded with the St George’s flag, only to reveal it to be a hoax to raise awareness of oil drilling in the Russian Arctic, few seemed to take the stunt seriously.

Yet sadly for Paddy Power, its partnership with the NGO Greenpeace was soon eclipsed by the dual grins of new besties Donald and Kim claiming this summer’s most outrageous pairing. Where the betting brand had hoped to provoke outrage with the image of polar bears branded with the St George’s flag, only to reveal it to be a hoax to raise awareness of oil drilling in the Russian Arctic, few seemed to take the stunt seriously.

There is a sense of déjà vu with many of Paddy’s stunts. During the Rio World Cup it did a similar act of faux-vandalism by claiming to have shaved a crude message about Brazilian grooming into the Amazon rainforest.

The trouble with this mischief is that it lacks the strength of its convictions. No sooner have they ‘leaked’ the image than it is revealed to be a self-aggrandising hoax. The masters of the genre like PR provocateur Harry Reichenbach would simply not recognise this as a hoax. As the man who gave birth to the myth of a real-life monkey man ‘Mr Zann’, among other cunning tricks, Reichenbach understood the only way to capture the public imagination – and guarantee coverage – is to tap into an inherent plausibility while persevering to not give the game away.

Paddy’s stunt barely registered beyond its own social channels and the trades – yet another example of PRs talking about themselves to themselves. It also may be the case that in a world of fake news Paddy’s hoaxes are struggling to keep up with the constantly shifting line between fact and fiction, where everything is simultaneously possible but disbelieved. This trends towards relative veracity tends towards ugliness, as the Beckhams, the latest victims of Twitter-charged fallacy, will attest.

The corrosive influence of fake news reached its height in that historic meeting in Singapore, which saw statesmanship replaced by Love Island showmanship and diplomacy lamin-ated in ego. Rather than taking a leaf out of stagecraft, this unprecedented meeting of the leaders of North Korea and the US seemed to have more in common with silly season PR campaigns. You’ve run out of ideas of how to promote your product: what about the partnership that no one asked for? Paddy and Greenpeace has been mentioned. You may also cast you minds back to the McWhopper campaign, which saw Burger King invite McDonald’s to join forces in aid of World Peace Day. Neither is intended to be a meaningful partnership, and they ultimately tumble under the weight of their own cynicism.

As is so often the case in PR, we risk getting lost in our own irrelevance. Outside of the media bubble these pairings barely register, let alone capture the imagination. Agencies may bray at analytics showing incredible engagement with their branded content. Yet real influence remains elusive. To achieve this we have to focus on where the real stories are.

Coleen Rooney has finally confirmed that she and her children will move to Washington to support Wayne after he signed for DC United.

HE’S England’s all time top goalscorer, a devoted father of four who recently celebrated his 10-year wedding anniversary to his childhood sweetheart.
But for much of his career it seemed Wayne Rooney made headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Now, however, after completing a £300,000-a-week move to US soccer team DC United, it seems he’s finally settling down for a life away from the scandals that have punctuated his time in English football.

Yesterday wife Coleen confirmed in a tweet she and children Kai, eight, Klay, five, Kit, two, and four month-old Cass will be joining him.
“The move is very much a family-led thing,” says PR expert Mark Borkowski.

“Without doubt Coleen’s first motivation in deciding to join Wayne is to keep the family together, keep the kids with their dad.
So she’ll go over there, have a look at how things are and then maybe they’ll think about whether her parents want to come out too. I’m sure she’ll feel it’s a case of the more the merrier.”

“You have to remember that nobody’s really heard of them in America,” says Mark Borkowski. “They’re not like the Beckhams.
“But what might be interesting is what happens if Wayne starts banging in the goals for DC United.

The Rooneys make a compelling story: the ordinary kids made good, the strong family unit, and she’s very presentable and likeable… there’s a sense of the American dream there.
“I believe she has joined Wayne principally for family reasons but it might turn out to be a very canny move in a marketing sense too.”